April 2015

We Want You to Choose Harmony - Job Fair 2015

Harmony Robotics Teams Take Over the World

World Championships that is!

Several Harmony robotics teams have won regional and state competitions and are now moving on to World Championships where they will compete against others from around the world.

Harmony School of Exploration - FIRST LEGO League (FLL) May 14-17

Houston Advancement - FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) April 22-25

HSA Waco - FIRST Robotics Championship (FRC) April 22-25

HSA Houston High - FIRST Robotics Championship (FRC) April 22-25

Student to Compete in National Spelling Bee

Practice Makes Winner!

Eighth grade Euless student, Michelle Y. says that practicing 1,000 words a day led to her regional spelling bee win. Competing against 25 contestants, Michelle out-spelled them all and will now move on to the Scripps National Spelling Bee on May 24-29 in Washington, D.C. Michelle's parents highlighted her success with her dedication "she never gives up."

Michelle was featured in several newspaper articles. You can find them all by clicking here.

El Paso Students Sweep Regional Science Fair

31 Medals: 11 gold, 10 silver, 10 bronze

The El Paso Science Olympiad team competed in the Stephenville Regional Tournament where they swept the competition. Not only did they walk away with 31 medals, they also enriched their passion for science and learning. They will now advance to the state championship where they will compete against 31 other schools from across Texas.

CANStruction and We CAN Winners

Students from Houston area schools raise more than $7,000 and more than 6,000 cans donated to the Houston Food Bank.

CANStruction is an event where students collect donated cans to build sculptures for those less fortunate. Advancement, Bryan College and West Houston, and Sugar Land High campuses participated on Saturday March 28. Mitchell R. from the Advancement campus organized and planned this event for his fellow classmates to participate. Each creation was built on-site and judged same day.

Student's Choice & Overall Winner (pictured above): The AmeriCANs with Patriotic Pie

The Most Creative: The Juxtaposers with the Fall of Troy

Best Meal: The Can Crew with Box Out Hunger

Students Grill State Representative Candidates

Students led a discussion with local candidates on issues important to them ranging from education to their local community. The forum was the first at HSA San Antonio, but proved to be an informative experience for our students.

Austin "Whiz-Kid" Featured in Austin Monthly

9 year old Harmony student, CEO and founder of Prudent Games

Rueben was named one of eight exceptional kids in this month's edition of Austin Monthly. Among many accomplishments, Rueben was named "CyberSecurity Ambassador" in New Delhi for teaching other students about the importance of cyber security. To read the entire article written about Rueben you may click here.

Harmony Science & Engineering Fair 2015

#HSEF2015 11 Students Advance to World-Wide Competitions

March 6-7, 2015 Harmony Public Schools held the first ever Harmony Science & Engineering Fair (H-SEF) with 91 students presenting from Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana. With over 600 submissions, only 75 of the top projects were invited to present.

Based on the results of H-SEF, 11 student projects have advanced to other competitions.

7 projects advanced to ISWEEEP (International Sustainable World Energy Engineering Environment Project) in Houston, 2 projects advanced to Mostratec in Brazil,1 project advanced to INESPO (International Environmental Science Project Olympiad) in the Netherlands, and 1 advanced to JSSE (Joint School Science Exhibit) in Hong Kong.

Harmony Teacher Awarded by ConocoPhillips

Ms. Clayton of Discovery named Math Teacher of the Month

This is Ms. Clayton's tenth year in the classroom teaching middle and high school mathematics. Wearing many hats ranging from math coach, coordinator for the Math Olympiad team to STEM coordinator & coach, her teams have won numerous awards. This year alone, her middle school team won first place at both regional and state level competitions.

"Pi" Yourself a Guinness World Record!

Or, at least an attempt! HSA Euless attempted a Guinness World Record for the largest mathematical symbol on March 6, 2015.

Approximately 38 students and staff members aligned themselves into the shape of "pi." The remaining 261 students surrounded the "pi" symbol to complete their attempt. Pi Day occurred on March 14, 2015 (3/14/15 9:26:53) and will not be seen again for another 100 years.

HSA Euless also been featured on CBS-Dallas' website. See the photos here!

Hockey, Harmony, & Cancer Awareness

Students Collaborate with San Antonio Professional Hockey Team

HSA San Antonio joined the San Antonio Rampage, a professional hockey team, for their Annual Pink in the Rink Night. Their ongoing efforts to give back to the community by honoring breast cancer survivors provided an evening full of fun for our students. HSA was seated in a special section dedicated for our group, and was also featured in their jumbo-tron during the game.

In Honor of National Poetry Month

A Selection of Student Poetry

Event Based Tweeting

The Central Office staff recently has been exploring results from event-based tweeting. Event-based tweeting is when you live tweet and share updates from an event using Twitter. The first foray into event based tweeting was H-SEF 2015. The hashtag used was #HSEF2015 - and staff and students were encouraged to share their experience from the event.

This proved to be successful for Harmony - with over a million impressions on Twitter and more than 80,000 accounts touched. Going forward for major events - hashtags will be created and used as a means to promote events.

Want to stay up-to-date on all the latest Harmony Happenings?

Make sure to follow us on social media!

Faces of Harmony Staff

Clara Flores, Office Manager/Registrar

West Houston

My Favorite Thing About Harmony

I enjoy the constant interaction with parents as I am able to assist them when they are registering their children for school. I am able to help both parents and children with the concerns they may have. I strongly believe that delivering a professional as well as friendly customer service to each and every individual that walks into our school matters.

My Favorite Teacher Memory

My favorite teacher growing up was ironically named Mrs. Flores. She impacted my life in a amazingly way. Ms. Flores was always positive and caring. She once told me "There is nothing impossible, the stars are only around the next corner and they are not hard to reach. " Mrs Flores was always kind to all students, she engaged in her lessons she made sure we knew we were her priority, no matter what language we spoke.

Fun Fact About Me

I love being involved and giving back to the community. Volunteering with my family at the Houston Food, Galveston Bay, and many other local volunteering areas give me a sense of fulfillment.

My Favorite Food & Place to Travel

My favorite food are pastries from la Madeline. Every year in May my family and I take a road trip to the San Marco's River just south of Austin. This tradition has been going on for 18 years, we always make it a priority and have a great time.

My Favorite Quote

"Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world!" Nelson Mandela

Faces of Harmony Alumni

Jackson Canales

Graduated from HSA Braeswood 2008

Associates in Science, 2011

Associates in Arts, 2012

Currently Pursuing: Business Management Degree at UH Bauer College of Business

Jackson's Story

My story began in a small rural village in El Salvador. My parents immigrated to the United States due to political instability and I was left to the care of my grandparents. When I was seven I also immigrated to the United States to be reunited with my parents. Needless to say I found myself in a different world where I would have to start over from scratch.

English was still a barrier for me when I started in Harmony, but the Harmony school system took care of me and I went from being limited in English to graduating from high school and being accepted in to various colleges thanks to a good SAT score and academic record. It took years of hard work, but thanks to the help of dedicated teachers and a good school system I was able to flourish.

Harmony became my second home, it was my second family. Harmony provided tutoring and after school activities on top of their rigorous class schedule, which showed me how dedicated the school system was, which in part made me give my best. The neighborhood I used to live in during this time had gangs and drugs and many of my child hood friends became victims to that environment. Harmony created a safe haven for me, where I could stay late, do my work, partake in extracurricular activities and be surrounded by teachers that truly cared about my well being.

Today I am proud to say that I'm still part of that great Harmony family that has done so much for me and for many other students throughout the years. It is because a system such as Harmony exists that a Latino immigrant like myself can achieve and dream so big. Harmony changed my life because the environment was built just to do exactly that, to nurture the minds of children and to alter their futures in a positive way.

Featuring an interesting historical event in science

April

In 1953, the first 3D motion picture produced and released by a major company, Man in the Dark, opened at the Globe Theater in New York City, starring Edmond O'Brien. The next 3D feature movie, The House of Wax, was the first from a major company in color and opened only two days later, at the Paramount Theater in NYC. The idea however was not new.

The first 3D feature film, The Power of Love, made in the U.S. by Perfect Pictures in 1922, used the familiar method of providing to the audience spectacles with one red and one green lens to produce the illusion of depth. The first 3D talking picture in color, a Russian production of Robinson Crusoe, was shown in Moscow in Feb 1947.

To learn more about science history events in the month of April click here.